17 Awesome Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend, Nov. 5 - 8

Thursday, Nov. 5The Instigators The Kettle Art gallery is not pretentious. There is no veneer. The difference between a “snobby” art gallery and Kettle Art is like the difference between going to an expensive department store where you can’t afford anything and shopping at Dolly Python. The setting is casual and the art is priced for any budget. There is also a focus on unrepresented artists here; that’s how artist Frank Campagna designed it in 2005. The other focus is on keeping Deep Ellum’s artistic roots firmly planted. The Instigators: Celebrating 10 Years of Kettle Art runs from Thursday through November 28. By putting the spotlight on lesser-known artists in an area where property values have been rising for years, Kettle Art performs a public service. In its first decade, the gallery has been an asset to Deep Ellum, fulfilling its goals through collaborations with countless art groups and organizations. The Instigators is a celebration of the artists who started Kettle Art (2650 Main St.) a decade ago, as well as those who have joined the Kettle ranks along the way. More at kettleart.com. Jeremy Hallock

Asian Art 101 You can appreciate art without always having a context for it — you don’t necessarily need history when colors, lines and textures have the final word. But in museums that showcase art from foreign cultures, additional perspective can help us put the pieces together and relate to the artists’ visions on a deeper level. The Crow Collection for Asian Art, 2010 Flora St., understands that giving visitors insight into how pieces are relevant to specific regions, religions and eras imparts a better appreciation of their aesthetics, and the Asian Art 101 series seeks to do just that. In the latest installment at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the University of North Texas’ Lisa Owen will give a lecture on Indian art, followed by a participatory gallery discussion at 8 p.m. Her discussion will focus on sculptures from the Crow Collection, and explore how religious traditions combined to inform the art of ancient and medieval India. Admission to the event is $20; tickets may be purchased at crowcollection.org. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Young NightsDrinks. Art. Cool cats. A killer gallery shop. Head to Circuit 12 Contemporary at 6 p.m. Thursday for their new social mixer, Young Nights.

Picnic Depending on who you talk to, Picnic is either a sultry, sexually charged exploration of female desire or a depressing-as-shit dramatization of female repression in the 1950s. And the beauty of William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is that neither perception is wrong — it can function on both levels, which is how Hollywood managed to turn it into a vehicle for William Holden’s abs while still maintaining its simmering despair. Theatre Three, 2800 Routh St., rolls out their production of the play, showcasing the intersecting lives of five different women, each caged in their own way by expectations and societal limits. Grace Montie and Haulston Mann heat things up as Madge and Hal during performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays through November 22. Tickets are $10-$50 at theatre3dallas.com. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

The Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music exists in a near-perfect format — a movie starring a plucky, golden-voiced actress and a cadre of the least annoying child actors to ever grace a soundstage. You can roll that on your flat screen, vicariously suffer from altitude sickness during the opening shot, and feel like that was a pretty complete viewing experience. But a live performance brings you that much closer to the Von Trapp Family magic, putting all of your favorite things onstage at The Music Hall in Fair Park, 909 First Ave., as part of the Dallas Summer Musicals 2015-2016 season. The stage version — which was adapted into the beloved film — is the sweet, lyrical and appropriately tense version you didn’t even know you were missing. Sure, you don’t get that breathtaking mountain vista — but there’s edelweiss for miles. See it at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, or Tuesdays through Sundays through November 22. Tickets are $21 to $106 at dallassummermusicals.org. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Friday, Nov. 6Director's Choice When it comes to entertainment, we have so many choices it gets intimidating. There’s pressure: You have to pick a show that will please everyone going; see it on the right night or risk a social media spoiler; or go the way of Netflix, suffering serious FOMO and setting yourself up for more difficult decision-making. That’s why Dallas Black Dance Theatre is doing us all a favor with Director’s Choice. There’s no doubt that at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Wyly Theatre (2400 Flora St.) will feature top-notch dance performances and inspire strong audience responses such as the awestruck lean forward, the gaped mouth and the fanatical applause. Margo Sappington’s (Joffrey Ballet lifetime achievement award winner from the Lone Star State) Step Out of Love will have five women sharing the stage through speedy, twitchy isolations. Get a new feel for Tchaikovsky’s (and Balanchine’s) Serenade through Hope Boykin’s in.ter.pret. Christopher L. Huggins’ Night Run builds as its title demands, and even Prince and Earth, Wind & Fire have a starring role in Talley Beatty’s A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair. So there’s really nothing to decide but which show to attend, and if you’ll stay for the DBDT All Access featuring a talk-back after the show on Friday, or an on-stage celebration Saturday. The answer is yes. Tickets are $27.50-$52.50. Visit dbdt.com. Merritt Martin

A Gardener's Runway A live runway show in the Ro2 Art gallery (110 N. Akard St.) with designs by artist and nature enthusiast Andrew Phinisee. This small collection of botanical inspired, hand painted, wearable pieces hopes to tie people closer to nature. Plus, the first 20 people who arrive receive a soon-to-be-published illustration book. Starts at 7 p.m.

Akram Khan: Kaash Akram Khan has been gathering acclaim and awards for his choreography for over two decades. Though he was born in England, he has used his artful expression to embrace his family’s Bangladeshi roots, bringing Kathak, a dance form from South Asia, to people worldwide. On Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Khan, in conjunction with TITAS, will bring his imaginative, collaborative project Kaash to the Dallas City Performance Hall (2520 Flora St.) for a rare visit. It will be the Dallas debut of this specific program. Don’t miss this chance to watch Khan breathe new life into dance by combining the traditional with the contemporary, and the visual with the aural, in rule-busting ways few others have the vision to even attempt. Tickets are $25-$75 at attpac.org. Kelly Dearmore

Tosca Simulcast It’s music for the masses as the Dallas Opera presents a simulcast of their stunning production of Tosca in that most democratic of venues, Klyde Warren Park (2012 Woodall Rodgers Freeway). But it’s not a black-tie affair: It’s a cultural free-for-all, with nods to the culinary, the canine and the animated starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The Yummy Pizza Food Truck will host a pizza “toss-ca” contest, where opera enthusiasts and hungry bystanders alike will compete for prizes and pepperoni-related glory. Meanwhile, the SPCA will bring out a bevy of potential pets looking for homes where the arts are appreciated as much as sloppy kisses. And just prior to the main event, there’ll be a screening of Chuck Jones’ seminal One Froggy Evening, which you probably know as the animated (and opera-laden) film that launched the career of one Michigan J. Frog. You can also chime in with all your cultural knowledge during Tosca Trivia. Puccini’s masterpiece kicks off at 7:30 p.m., filling the park with Italian arias and onstage intrigue while you lounge on a blanket and soak in those subtitles. Admission to the simulcast is free, but an RSVP is requested at klydewarrenpark.org. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Saturday, Nov. 7Dallas Flea Before you know it, you’ll be at the mall fighting every other person in America for a pair of designer jeans to gift your niece for the holidays. It will be a disaster and someone will end up crying. But before holiday shopping anxiety sets in, consider getting a head start on everything and plan to shop at the Dallas Flea. Hosted at the Green Warehouse at Trinity Groves (2900 Bataan St.), this flea market will feature items from hundreds of local vendors. There will be clothing, art, furniture, paper goods and home accessories, and when all of that begins to sound exhausting, live music and food trucks will be there to distract you. (And the food truck includes cocktails.) Dallas Flea begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and tickets are $5. For more information, visit thedallasflea.com. Paige Skinner

What Else Is in the Teaches of Peaches In the early 2000s, “Fuck the Pain Away” by sex-positive Canadian electronic artist Merrill Beth Nisker, aka Peaches, was pretty much inescapable. The song from her second album became the gold standard of catchy, indie and inappropriate tunes, ubiquitous on dance floors and appearing in everything from Lost in Translation to 30 Rock. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke even cited the song as inspiration for In Rainbows. And it is still every bit as relevant today; it hasn’t lost its edge. Now Peaches is back with a new book, What Else Is on the Teaches of Peaches, a collection of “evocative” and “erotic” photos of the singer by Holger Talinski, with words by other famous artists such as Michael Stipe, Ellen Page and Yoko Ono. Peaches will perform at Trees Saturday night, and earlier in the day at 2 p.m. she’ll stop at The Wild Detectives (314 W. 8th St.) to read from her book, sign copies and surely enlighten us on all sorts of topics. “Peaches, where do babies come from?” “Well, little Chrissy, when two people are in a lot of pain, they sometimes give each other a very special hug to make them feel better…” is how we imagine one educational conversation going. Prior to her recording career, Peaches was a school teacher, so her advice comes on good authority. Admission to the reading is free. Caroline North

Art for Advocacy November in Dallas is a cornucopia of art events — with each one butting up against another on the calendar, promising exposure to new ideas, new concepts and new pieces to hang over that bare mantel. But Art for Advocacy promises a little something more: The annual event is a fundraiser for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, which provides a range of services aimed at helping abused children recover and move forward. This year’s event, from 7 until 11 p.m. Saturday at the Fashion Industry Gallery, 1807 Ross Ave., will be filled to the brim with carefully curated works from 100 local and regional artists. Artwork is auctioned off to the highest bidder, with proceeds going straight to fund DCAC’s vital services. The evening will also feature cocktails, bites and music from ISHI. Tickets may be purchased for $150 each at dcac.org/art. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

John Wilcox John Wilcox was one of the great artists Dallas can claim. A native of Denison, in the 1970s Wilcox worked at The Modern in Fort Worth, where he met and worked alongside Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Dan Flavin. He moved to New York in the ’80s and received accolades from The New York Times and Art in America before returning to Texas in the ’90s and working in a studio near Fair Park. His last one-man show while he was living was at Barry Whistler Gallery in 2010, and was inspired by the friends he’d watched succumb to AIDS in New York. But his old studio, The Wilcox Space (824 Exposition Ave.), has hosted several posthumous shows of Wilcox’s work, which his family and supporters curate occasionally throughout the year. From 6-8 p.m. Saturday, view an exhibition focused on the diptych and polyptych formats Wilcox employed throughout this career. It will be a two-part installation curated by Sarah Koszlowski and Benjamin Lima. More at johnwilcoxart.com.

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Lorem Ipsum When an art director or graphic designer wants to see what text will look like on the page or in an online post, he or she will often use the Latin words Lorem Ipsum as placeholder text. Sometimes the text is used because a writer has blown a deadline for submission, but often it’s a method of removing distraction — to see if the design of the words contributes something effective and singular. In a new collaborative exhibition in SMU’s Pollock Gallery (3140 Dyer St.), curators will wrestle with a similar question. Does it matter how the art is arranged? The work of 19 artists will be reworked throughout the exhibit’s run by multiple curators, in a running commentary about the use or necessity of a curator today. You can keep up with this challenge by stopping by the gallery during open hours or visiting loremipsumexhibition.tumblr.com, which will be updated regularly with the changes.

History Quest: Play Ball! It’s hard to trace the origins of the sport of baseball. There were games in France and Great Britain that resembled it, but there’s really no known beginning. To explore some of the theories, the Dallas Heritage Village (1515 S. Harwood St.) presents History Quest: Play Ball!, an event that will allow you to investigate the beginnings of baseball in a unique way. You will get to take a trip down memory lane during the Civil War and meet cricket players with British roots, as well as some young soldiers who preferred the game of lacrosse. This event, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, puts forward the idea that cricket and lacrosse blended to create America’s favorite pastime. Tickets are $5 -$10. For more information, call 214-421-5141. Paige Skinner

Sunday, Nov. 8Holiday at the Arboretum It’s November and that means the official start of Christmas. Thanksgiving be damned. That turkey scarfing holiday cowers in fear at the awesome power of the most mighty of holidays. That’s why so many cities start their holiday celebrations in November instead of December. No one wants to anger the mighty Christmas beast. The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden (8525 Garland Road) is getting its holiday celebration in early. The annual Holiday at the Arboretum celebration kicks off on Sunday and runs every day starting at 9 a.m. until Sunday, Jan. 3rd. The tradition features several elaborate, glass-encased outdoor exhibits, including the famed “12 Days of Christmas” exhibit; “The Artistry of the Nativity” display in the DeGolyer House; and several gazebos filled with costumed characters and set up to recreate familiar winter and holiday settings. The scene lights up at night with an elaborate Christmas display that includes an illuminated, 30-foot Christmas tree in the center. Tickets are $20 for non-members and $12 for members, with discounts for seniors and children. To purchase or find more info, visit dallasarboretum.org. danny Gallagher